Ádám Lang: It motivates me to be capped for 50 times

– Was the weather foggy?
– Extremely foggy! – Omonia Nicosia's 45-time Hungarian national team defender Ádám Lang, who spent 20 minutes on the pitch the other day after the referee ended the derby against APOEL due to weather conditions, responded to our question. – At the beginning of the match, the visibility was somewhat good, then the dense fog descended... We didn't see the halfway line from the penalty box, so we understood the referee's decision to stop the game. The question is when we can make up for it because we have a very busy schedule.

– Speaking of busy schedule. Do you know how many matches you have played this season?    
–  I can't give you an exact number, but I'm guessing I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20. Twenty-eight maybe?

– Twenty-six! It's a lot.
– It really is. I'm glad it turned out that way because playing more games keeps me motivated! An old truth in football is that the best training session is the match.

– You can't complain about the lack of matches in the national team either. Marco Rossi asked you to play in nine out of 15 games.
– If I see it from this perspective, it was one of my best years. However, I'm aware that I played this much because of some key players' injuries and bans. If everyone was healthy, I wouldn't necessarily be a starter, but I'm working hard to prove myself if I get the chance.

–   It is also an old truth in football that no one gets a national team invitation for no reason.
– Yes, it is. But it's also true that after one gets an invitation, it's not enough. Once he's there, he wants to play. Look at my example. I was a European Championship squad member but didn't play at all. We all can look at it differently. There were some who were already happy by sitting on the bench, but I don't deny the fact that I wanted more. Though I have to add there is no anger in me, I'm just disappointed. I continue to work hard, and if they have confidence in me, I'll prove them right. I'm proud to be a national team member ever since I made my debut seven years ago. These past seven years were like a rollercoaster – there were ups and downs, but that's the beauty of it. I hope the end is not near.

– There are only five more matches to 50...
– The closer I get to it, the more motivated I am to be capped for 50 times. It's a nice, round number, and one who reaches it shall be proud.

–  And the same goes for who gets to wear the captain's armband!
– Thank you!

– Did you wear it for the first time against Karabagh at the European Conference League match last week?
– The substituted captain gave me his armband in a previous match, but I wore it as a starter for the time against Karabagh. What can I say? It was phenomenal leading the team out to the pitch. Our head coach Henning Berg's decision pointing at me was probably because this is my third season with the club, and that in Azerbaijan, I was the oldest member in the team – at twenty-eight...

– Did you show up with a tray of sweets the next day?
–  It is not customary here. I remember, at home in Vidi, it was almost mandatory. The first match, the first goal, the first captaincy – there was always something for the team. So, I haven't thought about it to surprise the members, but now that we're talking about it, I might do something for the next training session.

– Since you scored your first goal for Omonia two weeks ago, you should double that.
– So be it! I've waited a lot to be able to score, but we all know, that it's better late than never. Prior to that, I was often in the corner and also did free kicks, but a goal never came. I hope I'll start producing them now.

– We were stuck in the beginning. We had to fight against several difficulties, and we weren't in our best shape either. As it usually is in a situation like this, neither luck was on our side. What worked out last year, it didn't now. It took a while to get out of the pit, but now we show our old self and dominate the matches – we won the last two. Leader Apollo is 12, second-place AEK Larnaca is 11 points ahead of us, but we have two postponed matches. If we win those, we'll be close to them. We want to start the playoffs in a way to have a real chance of repeating last year's result.

– We get five days, which I'd like to take advantage of by traveling home. My wife and our two sons are looking forward to being together in Veszprém even for a short time! It would be an exaggeration to say that since I'm a foreign player, I've been going home often. I could only spend four days at home because shortly after the European Championship ended for us, training in Cyprus began. Next year's vacation won't be long either because four rounds of the Nations League will be held in June. We'll have a long break next winter because, unfortunately, we have not managed to qualify for the World Championships, although I would've been happy to play football then, too...

– Of course! I've had memorable moments at national and club levels. I stored what was good, and I tried to learn from what I wasn't successful in. I've had time to experience that most of the time little things decide the win or loss, joy or sorrow, but that's okay. Football is always like that.

Translated by: Vanda Orosz